Various conventional schemes have been devised for ground shielding of chips in a multi-chip integrated circuit module with flip-chip packaging. One such conventional scheme is to provide a single metal shield that encloses a mold surrounding all of the chips within the module. While such a scheme of conventional ground shielding may be capable of providing inter-module shielding, that is, shielding between separate modules, it is not capable of providing intra-module shielding, that is, shielding between different chips within the same module. Moreover, the shielding planes in such a scheme are positioned to surround the outer surfaces of the mold that covers all of the chips within the module, and are therefore separated by considerable distances from the circuits embedded within the chips. Therefore, the grounding effect of this type of conventional flip-chip module shielding may be limited.
In order to provide intra-module shielding, another conventional scheme has been devised which includes drilling a hole through the mold between two adjacent chips in a flip-chip module, to form a gap that separates two adjacent molds each enclosing a respective chip. A metal shield is provided outside each of the molds to achieve compartmentalized shielding between adjacent chips within the module. In such a drilled compartment shielding scheme, however, the shielding planes of each of the compartmentalized metal shields are still by considerable distances from the circuits embedded within the chips due to the presence of the mold between the chip and the shielding planes. Moreover, the process of drilling holes into the mold may be expensive and difficult to control, thereby decreasing the yield and increasing the cost of manufacturing.